Semiconductor memory has become more popular for use in various electronic devices. For example, non-volatile semiconductor memory is used in cellular telephones, digital cameras, mobile media players, personal digital assistants, mobile computing devices, non-mobile computing devices and other devices.
Protecting content stored on non-volatile semiconductor memory devices has become an important feature, especially concerning protection for copyrighted material. For example, a user may purchase copyrighted content, such as music, through an electronic device. Content owners typically intend for only the purchaser to use the content and may require that the purchased content be played only on authorized devices, such as the device used to purchase the content.
Securely storing information to protect unauthorized use of protected content can be performed using a variety of protection techniques, such as encryption. An application on a device that tries to access encrypted content must decrypt the content using an encryption key before that content can be read. An application authorized to access the encrypted content will have the appropriate encryption key for decrypting the content. Unauthorized applications may still be able to access the encrypted content, but without the appropriate encryption key, the unauthorized application may not be able to read the content. However, if an application somehow obtains the encryption key, the unauthorized application will be able to read the protected content. Thus, there is a need for a simplified and secure way of preventing an unauthorized application or application launcher on an electronic device from accessing protected content on a memory device.